AIC’s respected boss Godfrey quits as he searches for another big challenge
DANIEL Godfrey, the popular director general of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), is stepping down after 11 years in the job.
Godfrey, 48, is best remembered for steering the industry through its darkest hour when the split capital investment trust scandal broke and thousands lost their savings.
He said he was leaving to seek a “bigger challenge”. Current deputy director Ian Sayers will serve as acting boss of the AIC as it hunts for a replacement while the outgoing chief will stay on as a consultant.
AIC chairman Carol Ferguson said that London-born 48-year old Godfrey was “extremely highly regarded” by leading managers of the £75.1bn worth of investment trusts he represented. “During the split cap crisis, he wasn’t afraid to take the high ground,” she said.
In the 2002 scandal – when a slew of funds collapsed amid fund manager malpractice – Godfrey told a committee of MPs that he was aware of wrongdoing by some.
With this frank admission he was credited for helping to clean up the industry’s image.